Statements regarding the Republic of Moldova

The representatives of the Romanians in the Diaspora participating in the Summer University have made an X-ray of the future of Romanias relations with the neighboring Republic of Moldova

Bogdan Matei, 17.08.2016, 13:52

An already customary meeting, the Summer University of the Romanians in the Diaspora held each year in Izvoru Mureşului is a forum of discussion between the representatives of the Romanian communities abroad and the Romanian politicians. On behalf of the unionist platform called ‘Action 2012’, the leader of this association of NGOs, George Simion, has called for the setting up of an Office for the Republic of Moldova in Bucharest, to be subordinated directly to the prime minister, as well as for the organization of a visit to Chisinau of the entire Romanian government.

A consistent supporter of the rapprochement between Romania and Moldova, the former Romanian president, Traian Băsescu, who is now the leader of the People’s Movement Party, has reiterated his ideas in favor of the union. He said that over the past two years, namely after the end of his presidential terms in office, no progress was reported in this regard. The former president added that Bucharest should give up the old-type diplomacy and go beyond its excessive caution in relation to Moscow.

Traian Băsescu: “The only political solution in the process of the Republic of Moldova’s efforts to join the EU is its union with Romania. There is no other solution, at least for the coming 20 years”.

President Băsescu underlined that the union should be the result of a referendum or a vote in Parliament. For the union to be achieved, the president went on to say, the two countries need to take concrete action, establish cultural exchanges, increase the number of scholarships for students and grant the Romanian citizenship to a greater number of Moldovan citizens.

Many commentators in Bucharest share Traian Băsescu’s hopes but they are not as enthusiastic as he is. Some commented that these statements are a preamble to the legislative elections due in autumn, given that Traian Băsescu has always been popular among the citizens of the Republic of Moldova. Others say that there are still many sensitive cases shadowing the relations between the two states.

Gaining its independence in 1991, the Republic of Moldova was created on part of the eastern Romanian territories annexed by Stalin’s Soviet Union in 1940 following an ultimatum. Hundreds of thousands of people then took refuge in Romania, which had been deprived of a part of its territory. Other tens of thousands, real or imaginary enemies of the Soviet regime, were deported to Siberia and Kazakhstan. They were replaced with settlers from all corners of the Soviet Union.

For decades on end, the artificial Moldovan- Romanian border was the tightest in the entire Socialist camp and the virulent anti-Romanian propaganda was fueled continuously. Therefore, despite a real rapprochement obtained in the past 25 years, prejudice and suspicion have not disappeared, and the supporters of the union, although more and more numerous, remain a minority among the Moldovan citizens.